2:03:59

A New World Record

The New York Times reports:

Haile Gebrselassie broke his own marathon world record on Sunday, becoming the first runner to finish under 2 hours, 4 minutes.

The Ethiopian clocked 2:03:59 to win his third straight Berlin Marathon, beating the mark of 2:04:26 he set last year over the same flat course. He also became the first runner to win the race three times.

The Berlin Marathon is a flat, fast course, but this is really a blistering time. Take it from somebody (me) who plodded to a PR of 3:18:26 14 years ago and thought he was flying, this was an incredible time in a very long race.